


it could never be us

by spacebubble



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Embarrassment, Episode: s4e07 Starship Down, Flirting, Jealousy, Lap-sitting, M/M, Sexual Tension, moderately questionable power dynamics premised on quantities of latinum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 19:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12966801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebubble/pseuds/spacebubble
Summary: just another alternate scene for the end of that one episode with the business alien.





	it could never be us

**Author's Note:**

> _Like strangers_  
>  _Perfect pretenders_  
>  _We're falling head over heels_  
>  _For something that ain't real_  
>  _It could never be us -_  
>  _Just you and I_  
>   
>  **sigrid** // strangers

Hanok had a distinct lack of interest in the dabo girls that made Quark reconsider his age-old strategies. 

Usually by now, he would have successfully matched a gambler with the type of girl that distracted him most, figured out the features that were most likely to lead a man’s eyes astray.

But not Hanok. The Karemman minister of trade remained inscrutable and alarmingly focused, and Quark was losing more and more latinum by the minute.

A low chuckle by his ear made Quark jump.

“Sorry,” Odo told him, still chuckling. 

“Apology not accepted,” Quark replied snottily. “What’s so funny?”

Odo nodded over to Hanok, who was intently planning out his next move. “It’s just that you’ve usually figured out which dabo girl to deploy by now.”

Quark sniffed. “The situation’s more complex than that, Odo. We don’t usually have esteemed visitors from the Gamma Quadrant. I can’t use the same old methods for everybody.”

“Mm-hmm. I see.”

“You couldn’t see a good gambling strategy if it hit you in the goo.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Quark.”

Quark scowled. 

Still chuckling quietly to himself - but still obnoxiously loudly enough for Quark to hear - Odo gestured casually at one of the squares. “Why don’t you try that one, minister?”

Quark glanced over. His eyes widened. “No!”

The volume of his exclamation made both Hanok and Odo’s heads snap up to look at him.

“I mean.” Quark lowered his voice to a normal volume again. “You shouldn’t waste your latinum on such a bad risk.” He tugged at his shirt collar. “Don’t take any gambling advice from Odo, he doesn’t care about latinum, and you can’t trust people who don’t care about money to tell you what to do with it.”

He could almost hear Odo roll his eyes. “It wasn’t _gambling advice_ , Quark. I was merely _suggesting_ -”

“Why don’t you go _suggest_ somewhere else, Constable?” 

They glared at each other for a moment.

From the other side of the table, Hanok cleared his throat. 

“Quark?”

At the sound of his name, Quark blinked and broke off his glaring match with Odo. 

He turned towards the Karemman. “Yeah?”

Hanok’s expression remained inscrutably neutral as he said, “I believe I could use another refresher in the rules of the game.”

“Oh, sure.” Quark glanced back to Odo to smirk, then walked over to Hanok’s side. “What do you want to review?”

Hanok smiled. “Come closer.” 

“But I’m already...” Quark paused, ears perking up to the sound of a hand making a patting motion. He looked down.

Hanok’s body was turned towards him, so that Quark could get a full view of Hanok’s lap - and the hand that was lightly beckoning Quark to sit down on Hanok’s thigh.

Warmth started flushing Quark’s cheeks. 

“Well?” Hanok asked innocently, like he had absolutely no idea why Quark might be reluctant to sit in his lap in front of everyone. Like Quark was someone who just sat on rich men’s laps at the dabo table as a matter of course. 

Quark swallowed hard.

_Well, that explains why I couldn’t figure out which girl he liked..._

He heard Odo step closer. 

“Something the matter, Quark?”

“I…” Quark’s voice trailed off. 

Did he want to tell Odo? 

And if he did, what did he want Odo to do about it?

A traitorous blush colored Quark’s cheeks. He reached up to feel his face with the back of his hand. Warm. Very warm.

“Quark?” Hanok asked. His hand stopped moving, resting casually on top of his thigh, and Quark’s eyes felt locked onto the Karemman’s inviting hand. 

He bit his lip, then broke into a grin.

Why not?

Quark nodded, almost imperceptibly, but not so much that Hanok couldn’t see it.

He drifted closer, than sat himself down on Hanok’s lap. His blood pounded in his ears. 

The Karemman chuckled softly, then wrapped an arm around Quark’s waist. He could feel Hanok’s heart beating against his back in a rhythm that would’ve been comforting, had Quark not been painfully self-conscious of being scooped into Hanok’s lap in full view of a gossiping crowd.

Quark squirmed. He could hear his own breathing grow heavier, and he crossed his legs. Hanok tucked his chin over Quark’s shoulder.

“There,” Hanok murmured. “It helps for us to both have the same view of the dabo table, doesn’t it?”

“Uh-huh,” Quark said faintly. He was very aware of Hanok’s breath gently tickling his ear, and the heavy hand resting along his waist. Their proximity was starting to make him dizzy.

A surprised grunt off to the side made him look up, only to see Odo frowning slightly.

“Unusual seating arrangement,” Odo noted.

Hanok’s facial ridges brushed against Quark’s lobes. 

“Uh-huh?” Quark managed to say, trying not to dwell on how pathetically his voice cracked. He wondered if Odo could hear his own heart beating rapidly, then remembered Odo could barely shapeshift a decent set of ears. 

The Changeling still had eyes though, and he could clearly see, but it wasn’t clear to Quark how Odo felt about what he was seeing. It wasn’t even clear to Quark himself how _he_ was feeling.

“Maybe it’s fitting,” Odo said, half under his breath, as if he were trying to persuade himself. “Considering what you’ve let the handsier customers get away with doing to the dabo girls.”

“I never _let them_ get away with it,” Quark protested. 

Hanok gently nuzzled him to draw his attention, provoking a full body shudder. “With what, Quark?”

Quark turned to smile at him. “Nothing. Ignore him.”

“Hard to ignore him when you keep paying attention to him,” Hanok teased, but there was a slight edge to his tone.

“Sorry.” Quark licked his lips, trying not to smile too much at how Hanok’s gaze immediately drifted downwards. “Kinda like that you’re jealous, by the way.”

Hanok snorted. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Sounds about right,” Quark murmured. If he leaned in just a little closer, they could be kissing. He kept his lips parted, and his eyelids felt heavy.

Hanok lowered his voice to a pillow talk level of volume, then asked serenely, “Is this all right?” 

“Mm?” Quark felt lulled into a state of cozy complacency. He burrowed against Hanok’s chest, as if they were curled up on a couch somewhere. 

“The constable said this was unusual.”

It was, but Quark was starting to enjoy it. “Don’t mind.”

“I think your constable does.”

Quark turned to look back at Odo, who was scrutinizing them with an increasingly suspicious expression. 

“Maybe he thinks we’re conspiring,” Quark whispered with a grin. The whispering seemed to annoy Odo further - he could see Odo leaning closer, frowning at not being able to hear what Quark was saying - and the thought of annoying Odo entertained Quark, conveniently distracting him from how much was enjoying sitting in Hanok’s lap.

“Conspiring how?” 

Quark shrugged. The gesture made his arm rub against Hanok’s chest, and Hanok’s arm tightened around his waist. “Maybe he thinks I’m going easy on you.”

Hanok chuckled warmly. “And why would you do a thing like that?”

“Couldn’t possibly imagine.” Quark dragged his eyes away from Odo to gaze winningly up at Hanok. “It’s not like I want you to enjoy yourself.”

Hanok huffed a quiet laugh. “Shameless little flirt.”

“Mm-hmm.” Quark smiled, then leaned closer, just a bit, to see if Hanok would reciprocate. 

He saw the Karemman’s face draw nearer, then began closing his eyes -

A sharp and obviously fake cough interrupted them.

“You can stop the show now, Quark,” Odo grumbled. “Everyone else has left.”

“Huh?” Quark blinked, then looked around. Their audience had dispersed. “Oh. Where’d everyone go?”

“They left once it became apparent you two were playing a game of your own,” Odo replied, sounding as sarcastic as ever, but there might have been a flicker of something else in the mix. Quark chalked it up to the Changeling’s everyday prudeness. “What you two choose to do in private is none of my business, but if you intend to continue making other denizens of the station uncomfortable, I’m afraid I’ll have to write you up for public indecency.”

“ _Indecency_?” Quark repeated, fully preparing to launch into a tirade, but Hanok’s cheek brushed against his ear again, and the gentle touch made his mind go blank.

“Constable,” Hanok said placatingly, “we’ll relocate immediately.”

Odo made a surprised sort of grunt. “You will?”

“We will?” Quark echoed, eyes wide as he turned back to look at Hanok, suddenly flooded with mental images of what they could get up to in a different location.

“Yes.” Hanok nuzzled Quark’s cheek. “I think I’ve taken enough of your latinum already, haven’t I? Perhaps it’s about time I spent some of it on one of your holosuites.”

A pleasant blankness filled Quark’s mind.

“Quark?”

He gazed up at Hanok dreamily. “Huh?”

“The holosuites?”

“Oh.” Quark grinned. He patted Hanok’s chest, then slowly extricated himself out of the Karemman’s lap. “Yeah. Sure. Let’s go.”

As he stood back up, Quark couldn’t resist stealing a glance back at Odo. 

The Changeling folded his arms tightly. His entire body was stiff with disapproval, and he looked like he wanted to say something. But no words came.

There was something oddly melancholy about the sight of Odo staring at him as he was about to leave for the holosuites with another man.

Then Hanok reached for his arm, pulling him close, and Quark dismissed the thought as they walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> tbc! 
> 
> yes, i will continue to shore up this rare pair with naught but my own two hands 
> 
> anyway. apparently my solution to wip writer's block is to start... yet another wip...? 
> 
> rated teen for now, we'll see what happens later!


End file.
